00:02In a Fox Carolina investigation, the man accused of shooting his ex-girlfriend outside a busy Walmart in Spartanburg wants
00:09the chance to be let out of jail while he waits for his trial.
00:12Brandon Parker faces several charges, including attempted murder.
00:16This is a look back at his first court appearance.
00:19He was arrested for shooting his ex-girlfriend in the parking lot of the Dorman Center Walmart last September.
00:24It set off a chaotic scene, and one woman's child barely escaped getting hurt.
00:30Now, Parker has prior convictions for domestic violence.
00:33So now the solicitor's office wants to know how he was able to get the gun in the first place.
00:39Only Fox Carolina's Brooklyn Cromer was in the courtroom today and has the details on how a legal loophole could
00:45be to blame.
00:46Here in Spartanburg, a man convicted of shooting his ex-girlfriend is at the center of a bigger question.
00:51How did he legally obtain a South Carolina gun permit despite two domestic violence convictions?
00:58Investigators say Brandon Parker shot his ex-girlfriend outside this Spartanburg Walmart.
01:02I heard about five or six gunshots and a woman screaming, oh, God, help me.
01:07Prosecutors say surveillance video shows Parker firing his gun as she tried to get away.
01:12There's a police car right there.
01:13She drives right beside the police car, hoping for help.
01:17He chases her down and shoots her in front of the wall.
01:21But in court, prosecutors focused on another question.
01:24I do not know how he legally got a gun.
01:27Fox Carolina investigates dug into this, and we found out Parker had two domestic violence convictions,
01:33including one prosecutors say involved a pregnant woman.
01:35But an old gap in a law may have allowed him to legally on a gun.
01:39Federal law bans anyone with a domestic violence conviction from having a firearm,
01:43but for several years, the ban only applied if the victim and offender were married,
01:48living together, or if they had a child together.
01:50It was called the boyfriend loophole.
01:52It was mostly closed at the federal level in 2022,
01:55well after Parker's convictions, and the closure was not retroactive.
01:59Somehow he did shoot others, possibly loopholes in the wall,
02:02that he needs to be taken care of from that standpoint.
02:05But obviously, you know, he had a gun.
02:09He used it.
02:09There's no question about it.
02:11And in this case, we'd ask them definitely not bond yard.
02:17Keep your hands up! Hands up!
02:20Spartanburg police say Parker fled South Carolina
02:22before troopers caught him in Kentucky with a gun inside his car,
02:26the same gun they believe he used in the crime.
02:28We were able to get body cam footage from his arrest.
02:31In it, you can hear Parker telling troopers he had been drinking to get over what he had done.
02:35I know what I did was wrong, but...
02:43Back in court, Parker's defense attorney argued the shooting was out of character.
02:48He had consumed alcohol, was not acting like himself at all.
02:52If he had been in a more clear state of mind at this time, your honor,
02:56he never would have left the state.
02:59Parker's attorney is asking the judge to release him on home incarceration or GPS monitoring.
03:04The judge has not yet made a decision.
03:06Reporting in Spartanburg, briefly Cromer, Fox Carolina News.
03:10Now, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division issued Parker his gun permit.
03:15We sent them Parker's background check and asked how he was able to get it
03:19and if the boyfriend loophole was the reason why.
03:22Well, they wouldn't tell us.
03:24They have since revoked his permit now.
03:26The victim in this case survived, but was left seriously hurt.
03:30And we don't have an update at this time on her condition.
